CdM Principal Dr. Jacob Haley (far left) with head coach Kevin Hettig and captains Christian Brooks, Colin Pene, Russell Weir and Kaleb Annett accept the runner-up trophy. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
Despite a spirited effort, the Corona del Mar High School football team fell to La Serna 49-29 in the CIF Division 4 championship before a near capacity crowd Friday night at California High School.
The No. 2 seeded Lancers (11-3), champions of the Del Rio League, extended their winning streak to nine games and won their fourth football CIF title and first since 2013.
La Serna averaged nearly 50 points per game this season (604 points). The No. 4 seeded Sea Kings (8-6) made their first finals appearance since CdM ran the table in 2019 (16-0) to win the CIF and state championship. The Sea Kings qualified for the playoffs as an at‐large team from the Sunset League.
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La Serna running back Owen Long was explosive as he rushed for 166 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead the Lancers. La Serna forced three Sea Kings turnovers, recorded five sacks and scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to take a commanding halftime lead.
“We came out fast and physical and smacked them in the mouth and it’s hard to come back when you get down like that,” said Long, who has amassed 1,373 yards this season and scored 24 TDs. “This was four years of hard work. We always talked about winning a CIF title since we were freshmen.” Long is committed to play at Idaho next season.
The Lancers scored on their first possession of the game as Long capped the scoring drive with a 15-yard TD run.
The Sea Kings responded and marched to the La Serna 2-yard line, but quarterback Kaleb Annett was sacked for a loss and CdM settled for a 31-yard field goal by Colin Pene to cut the lead to 7-3.
The Sea Kings defense came up with a huge turnover on the Lancers ensuing possession. Linebacker Dillon Lane deflected a La Serna pass and Cameron Benion caught it and returned it to the Lancers 10-yard line. However, the La Serna defense stiffened and the Sea Kings missed a field goal.
Two plays later, Long rambled for a 55-yard TD run to up the lead to 14-3. Jaden Mwendepole provided a charge to the CdM crowd as he returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, but the Sea Kings missed the two-point conversion and trailed 14-9 with 11:08 to play in the half.
La Serna then shifted into high gear forcing three turnovers and scoring three touchdowns in a span of 6:02 of the second quarter to extend its lead.
Lancers quarterback CJ Ceron scored on a 22-yard TD run to cap a nine-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Then, following a Sea Kings fumble and an interception, Long added TD runs of nine and four yards as the Lancers cruised into halftime with a 35-9 lead.
“The turnovers hurt us at the end of the half,” said CdM Coach Kevin Hettig. “We had opportunities to score in the first half but we didn’t convert. In a game like this, you can’t just play an average game. You can’t replicate their speed in practice. We didn’t win because of a lack of effort. We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”
The Sea Kings had two long scoring drives in the second half, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Annett tossed a TD pass to Russell Weir cutting the lead to 35-22 with 9:38 to play, but the Lancers tallied two more scores to seal the victory.
Annett completed 24 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns and Weir caught nine passes for 161 yards and three touchdowns for CdM. Dorsett Stecker also had a strong game for the Sea Kings as he caught seven passes for 107 yards.
“We’ll learn a lot from this game,” said Stecker. “I’m a sophomore and we had a great second half of the season to get this far. We’ll get better as a result of this game.”
“We stuck it out to the end, the way CdM always does; we kept grinding,” said Annett, who finished the season with 2,768 yards passing and 30 TD passes.
“We came to play and we played strong all the way to the end,” added Pene, a senior linebacker and kicker.
“It’s been an honor to be part of this team; we never quit and we never gave up,” said Weir, who has caught 77 passes for 1132 yards and 11 TDs this season.
In the end it was La Serna’s ground game that was overpowering. The Lancers finished with 337 yards rushing, and held CdM to negative yards on the ground. The Lancers defensive line applied heavy pressure on Annett throughout the game.
“It was our time and our year,” said Lancers Coach Andy George, a former Lancers player. “We came out to finish the job tonight and we got it done.”
La Serna defeated Great Oak, Trabuco Hills and Culver City in the playoffs while CdM beat Paraclete, Santa Barbara and Yorba Linda.
—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
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